India's Fiscal Deficit Reaches 29.4% Of FY25 Target In April-September

The Union government's fiscal deficit expanded to 29.4% of the budgetary target at the end of the first six months for the financial year ending March 2025.

The gap between expenditure and revenue during April-September stood at Rs 4.75 lakh crore of the total limit set at Rs 16.85 lakh crore for the ongoing fiscal, according to provisional data released on Wednesday by the Controller General of Accounts.

The Union government had set a fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP for the financial year ending March 2025, as it aims to continue on its fiscal consolidation path. This is after bettering its deficit target for the last fiscal to 5.6% of GDP.

Net tax receipts for the first six months of the current financial year reached Rs 12.65 lakh crore, representing 49% of the fiscal target. This compares to Rs 11.6 lakh crore collected during the same period last year, according to data.

Meanwhile, the non-tax revenue reached Rs 3.57 lakh crore by September 2024, achieving 65.5% of the Budget estimate of Rs 5.45 lakh crore for the fiscal 2025.

The fiscal deficit was supported by the RBI’s dividend payment earlier in the year and a reduction in capital expenditure. The Reserve Bank of India paid Rs 2.1 lakh crore—the highest-ever surplus—as dividend to the central government for fiscal 2024.

Capital expenditure from April until September reached Rs 4.14 lakh crore, amounting to 37.3% of the full-year target, down from 49% achieved in the first half of the previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, total receipts were at Rs 16.37 lakh crore during the first six months of the fiscal 2024-25, which is 51% of the fiscal year target.

Additionally, the revenue deficit until September stood at Rs 74,000 crore, reaching 12.8% of the fiscal year target.